Malware headache version OS X 10.3.9

[fenway]

Trying to help a friend of mine.

Somehow he is being redirected from some websites to a site that is not family friendly.

I unbderstand somthing needs to be fixed in the hosts file but I have no idea how to access that in terminal or what to do when I get there

Thanks in advance for any help

 

[bookem]

To edit the hosts file, in the Terminal type sudo pico /etc/hosts

You might also want to try sudo lookupd -flushcache first to see if that fixes it.

You could also try setting your DNS to 208.67.222.222 (OpenDNS)

 

[xero]

i think this might be what your talking about
http://www.intego.com/news/ism0705.asp

their antivirus software will protect you against that dns changer.

 

[bookem]

Just encountered this myself, have a look here for removal instructions: http://www.macworld.com/2007/10/firstlooks/trojanhorse/index.php

 

[cieran84]

Thanks for the both links, they helped me with my exact problem. I had installed Leopard, and recently had a pop-up to download the latest Flip4Mac plug-in in order to view a video (no lectures, the porn industry isn't a multi billion $ one for no reason ). Well turns out it wasn't really a plug-in for Flip4Mac, it was running occasional popups in Safari to buy some malware removal software (just more proof the Anti-virus industry is creating much of the security problems).

I followed the advice in the Macworld article and solved the problem. Although one clarification on Macworld, they say to look in /Library/Internet Plug-ins but that may confuse some people. Check in /Users/yourname/Library/Internet Plug-ins too, that's where my problem plug-in was (best way to tell which plugin is the offending one is by date modified sorting).

So, lesson learned. Always go to the official site for a video plug-in if some website tells you that you need a new version.